Sen. Cruz Revives Legislative Efforts to Stop Illegal Immigration

WASHINGTON, D.C. —U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Wednesday reintroduced Kate’s Law and placed the bill directly on the Senate calendar, making it immediately available for floor action. Today, Sen. Cruz intends to ask for Kate’s Law to be called up and passed by unanimous consent.

Sen. Cruz introduced Kate’s Law, or the Establishing Mandatory Minimums for Illegal Reentry Act of 2015, earlier this year. The bill is named for Kate Steinle, the 32-year-old woman who tragically died in the arms of her father on a San Francisco pier after being shot by an illegal alien who had several felony convictions and had been deported from the United States five times.

Critical elements of Kate’s Law were incorporated in Sen. David Vitter’s (La.) Stop Sanctuary Policies and Protect Americans Act, of which Sen. Cruz was a lead cosponsor, that Senate Democrats filibustered earlier this week. Sens. Vitter, Chuck Grassley (Iowa), and David Perdue (Ga.) joined Sen. Cruz as cosponsors of this latest effort to stop illegal immigration.

“The policies of the Obama Administration and sanctuary jurisdictions across our country are inexcusable, and they are a threat to the safety of the American people. For months, I have been pressing for a standalone vote on Kate’s Law. This time, I filed the legislation on the Senate floor so it is available on the calendar to be pulled up directly. When it comes to stopping sanctuary cities and protecting our safety, we need some governing. We need to actually fix the problem,” Sen. Cruz said. “This ought to be a clear choice: With whom do you stand? I hope my colleagues in the Senate will support this bill and stand with the American people – the people we should be protecting – rather than convicted felons like the murderer of Kate Steinle.”  

On Wednesday, Sen. Cruz appeared on The O’Reilly Factor to discuss having standalone action on Kate’s Law. Watch the full interview here.

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